Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Photos from the Road, ICW Northbound

We’ve been traveling up the east coast of the US by sailboat for the last three months. We've alternated hops offshore with motoring up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Here’s a quick collection of my favorite photos from some of our favorite stops.

We spent most of May in Biscayne Bay and Miami. It's one of our favorite spots in South Florida: quiet places to spend peaceful nights at anchor, lots of scenery and fun sailing.




After a 72 hour passage offshore, our first new port was Fernandina Beach on the Georgia/Florida state line. We really loved walking this sweet town and exploring nearby Cumberland Island National Seashore.



After a two day passage we put into Charleston, SC. While getting ashore in Charleston was a challenge, we were rewarded with one of the coolest cities around.

Not exactly part of the boat trip, but a quick road trip out to the mountains of Colorado was lovely. We traveled the San Juan Skyway between Durango, Silverton and Ouray and visited Mesa Verde State Park. 




Cape Lookout in North Carolina was a beautiful spot. We love nice, secure anchorages in national parks where we can really get away from it all. 




Okracoke has been my favorite spot so far. We spent three weeks in the anchorage here, dinghying to town each day and exploring bit by bit. We watched some incredible storms roll through here and really got feel for life in the Outer Banks.








Monday, March 7, 2016

A Fresh Start


For the past eight years I have been working as a college professor and shooting on the side. Prior to that I worked as a full-time professional photographer doing portraits and weddings. I’ve gotten quite a few great gigs, worked with some great folks and done a lot of neat things. Lately I’ve specialized in promotional photography of aircraft and yachts, which has been a lot of fun. 








So it’s time for a change and it’s time to make travel, photography and art a bigger part of my life again.


Our floating home.



Last year, my wife Lucy and I sold our house, saved our pennies and bought our dream boat. We are now living aboard while cruising: traveling up the east coast of the US this summer and then back to Florida and the Bahamas after hurricane season passes. Long term plans? Not really sure! We are chronicling our nautical exploits on our ship’s blog: boatlifelarks.com. Check it out and join the adventure!







Ready to cruise!


Set sail with us!




With the change in pace comes this new website. MClaiborne.com has gone through a lot of revisions over the years, but I wanted to make a few changes and add a more personal feel. This blog is a place to share my portfolio and even some of the more techy aspects of travel photography while working from a boat. So sit back and follow along! 

--Matt